Chapter 481: She Had Long Since Lost All Retreat

"If you don't come back soon, the mole is going to find me before you do."

Yu Dazhang shot back irritably, then asked:

"Did you bring back what I wanted?"

Li Mingzhao glanced at Ye Lin, then took a briefcase from her hand.

"I brought it for you."

He took out a thick file folder from the briefcase and handed it to Yu Dazhang:

"All the information on every core member of that education foundation is inside, along with all their donation records."

How is it this thick… Yu Dazhang took it and weighed it in his hand.

A dictionary wouldn't even weigh this much.

"Give me one more day."

Yu Dazhang rarely made guarantees, but this situation was special—he had to deal with it as quickly as possible.

"Actually, there's no need to go to all that trouble." Li Mingzhao suggested:

"You can tell us who you suspect, and leave the rest to us. Don't worry, we absolutely won't wrong a good person."

His meaning was obvious: have Yu Dazhang name someone, and then they'd conduct the interrogation.

This would skip the evidence-gathering process—the simplest and most effective method.

The fact that he could say something like this showed how much trust he placed in Yu Dazhang.

"Sure, then take notes."

Yu Dazhang laughed in spite of himself:

"Everyone on the research team is a suspect, including those two academicians."

"Arrest all of them and interrogate them one by one. At your efficiency, you'll have the mole found within a day—might even dig up a few extra ones."

By the end, his tone had changed:

"If you can't find them, then put them through it one by one until the mole is dug out."

His words left Li Mingzhao and Ye Lin stunned.

If we really did it that way, wouldn't this just turn into Zhazhidong?

What do you take us for?

Asking you to name a target is a sign of trust—how dare you get angry about it.

At the same time, Li Mingzhao could also tell that this fatty was making his position clear.

Without absolute certainty and ironclad evidence, he wouldn't lightly point a finger at anyone.

"I was a bit hasty."

Li Mingzhao explained:

"Even though we have more resources, we still act according to the law. In fact, aside from certain special people and matters, we've never run roughshod over anyone."

Hopefully… Yu Dazhang muttered to himself.

He still trusted the Ministry of State Security, because everything they did was for the nation's interests.

The next day.

Yu Dazhang arrived at the test hall with bloodshot eyes.

He had barely slept the entire previous night.

The education foundation's files were simply too voluminous and complicated.

Even reading ten lines at a glance, it still took him the whole night to finish them all.

It wasn't until the sky was just beginning to lighten that he finally closed the files and dozed off for a short nap.

"Professor Ying, you look listless these past two days—did you not get enough rest?"

The moment he reached the hall, Yu Dazhang greeted Ying Xuelian warmly.

"Look who's talking—go take a look in the mirror. Your eyes are that red."

Ying Xuelian gave him a reproachful sideways glance:

"What time did you sleep last night? How did you end up this worn out?"

That single glance immediately perked Yu Dazhang up considerably; his complexion also turned much rosier.

He smiled and answered in a lowered voice:

"I was mulling you over all night last night—I only managed to sleep a little bit this morning."

Those words sounded somewhat ambiguous, but coming from Yu Dazhang's mouth they came across as utterly cold.

Ying Xuelian's expression shifted at his words, but she quickly recovered.

She smiled faintly and replied:

"Mind your manners and focus on your work. If you really can't hold on, go back and get some more sleep."

Yu Dazhang was unmoved and still said coldly:

"Can't do that. I just figured out a few leads—afraid that if I turn around for a second, you'll vanish on me."

Talking like this was tantamount to laying his cards on the table.

From his confident tone, one could tell he had already concluded that Ying Xuelian was the mole.

"I'll give you one hour to hand over your work."

Yu Dazhang's face darkened: "This is also the last time I'll be covering for you."

Ying Xuelian frowned slightly, clearly very put off by his aggressive attitude.

"What authority do you have to tell me to hand over my work?"

She fixed her gaze tightly on Yu Dazhang, a hint of anger flashing in her eyes, as if trying to see straight through him.

After a brief pause, she said in a slightly accusatory tone:

"Don't forget your status—you're just a member of my group, not even a teaching assistant. You have no right to speak to me like that."

After being here so long, this was the first time Yu Dazhang had seen Ying Xuelian lose her composure.

Usually she always came across as gentle and considerate, refreshing like a spring breeze, as if nothing could ever disturb her state of mind.

But at this moment, she was rattled.

No matter how good her acting was, she couldn't conceal the terror and unease deep in her eyes.

"Three days ago, you came to find me with a squirrel, wanting me to think you'd come to probe me."

Yu Dazhang stared at her, his expression cold:

"Actually you came to pacify me, to make me think you still had a next move. But in fact, from the second day after Liu Hai was taken away, you'd already decided I was the police."

"You're too clever—at least among the women I've known, in both IQ and EQ, you're the highest."

He was speaking from the heart.

In his view, the fact that Ying Xuelian had become a professor at the age of thirty was entirely down to her own ability.

Previously Yu Dazhang had never been able to figure out what could make a heaven-blessed woman like Ying Xuelian betray her country.

Last night, after reading through the Education Foundation's files, he found the answer.

Two points:

One, cultivated from childhood.

From the moment Ying Xuelian sat her entrance exams, she already had no way back.

Her life had been mapped out for her; even if she'd wanted to resist, she never got the chance.

Two, leverage.

Her identity as a spy could no longer be changed.

So she could only keep lying low.

Once she stepped out of academia, it would mean she'd lost her usefulness.

As for the outcome…

To put it plainly: neither side would let her off the hook.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Ying Xuelian took half a step back, her face still composed:

"I've never heard there's any police here."

Looks like unless he brings out something real, she won't admit it… Yu Dazhang looked at her with a touch of helplessness, then sighed:

"The Education Foundation has been wiped out by the Ministry of State Security, and the organizations and companies tied to it have been cleaned up as well."

At these words, the color finally drained from Ying Xuelian's face.

Her cheeks, which had been rosy, lost all color in an instant.

Yu Dazhang gave her no time to react and went on:

"Didn't expect the Ministry of State Security to move this fast, did you? Last night they even brought me back a set of files related to the Education Foundation."

"There's one entry that's rather interesting—it records a charity event the Foundation held twenty years ago."

At this point, Ying Xuelian suddenly raised her head, a flash of shock in her eyes.

"Go on, wrap up the handover."

Yu Dazhang knew she'd understood, and said no more, just waving a hand:

"You've been on this project so long, there has to be a proper beginning and end."

Ying Xuelian said nothing more, just nodded.

An hour later.

When she stood before Yu Dazhang again, her complexion had returned to normal, and the light in her eyes was brighter than before.

Yu Dazhang even saw relief on her face.

It was the ease of setting down a burden, of being freed from shackles—a letting go of the past and an openness toward the future.

Looking at Ying Xuelian like this, a thought suddenly popped into Yu Dazhang's head.

This woman was terrifying.

(End of chapter)